20th - 29th December. Merry Christmas and frisky ponies everywhere!

Merry Christmas!
I've had some more time off work so it has given me the opportunity to put more work on adam a bit more.

Riding FORWARD!

Unfortunately it has been blowing a gale and raining cats and dogs in Cornwall so I haven't been able to get him out hacking since my last hacking post. Gutted! So I took him around a new circuit yesterday. Massive fail! We met alpacas....not a fan of those. Then walked through a terrifying farm. General water obstacles because of all the rain also. So he wasn't a fan of that :( .

But I have been schooling him still, and that is going well. Also dressed him up all christmasy!

Overturned beetle...

Christmas pony! Took a few days for him to tolerate this.

14th - 20th December. H&H feature

Things are still going well.
I've been lunging him in the mornings before i go to work at the moment, whilst the evenings are still dark. I leave the house very early so its nice to get back and not have to worry about exercising. Much to his disgrace!

Not alot to update, but we where featured in Horse and Hounds 'beating the odds' articles this month, with a little write up and some photos :)
Didn't expect for it to be published, so really chuffed!

He's also had another hair cut, so looking a bit smarter :)

X

9th - 14th December. Staying positive!

Things are still going well after his rest.

We have managed two hacks on our own with minimal fuss and frustration. Both the same route, so he felt comfortable about where he was going.

Started doing some schooling too as the weather hasn't stayed very nice this week :( I had a lesson on Wednesday for my birthday back down at Dittiscombe Equestrian Centre where I used to work. I had a lesson with Emily Farleigh who is also my best friend. She got me riding positively and confidently so I could return to my schooling with adam feeling happy. Even popped a fence on the lovely prelude. She was fab and really helped me out.

I schooled Adam the next day with my other half screaming at me to keep riding him forward and positive. Quite funny really! We braved the outdoor school too! Which meant he spooked a few times.

But after an argument or two, he really buckled down and got on with it and almost gave up trying to test me. I used to ride him quite forward and go go go but I have been to afraid to push him so he had learnt he can get away with being a slug.

But he had been schooled twice now this week and the second time was a success. Off my leg and forward. Yipeeeeee!! Although I was supporting my best 'stay the Hell on' position. So I didn't look overly pretty!!

A few photos from this week :) 

Kisses on my birthday :)

 

Looking really quite cute. He's good at this face ! 

 

Schooling in the dreaded outdoor spooky school.... 

 

  Christmas pony! With his Christmas tree headband on.

 

Naaaaaw! 

27th Nov - 9th Dec. Water, alpacas and time to do work.

So following on from my last post...

We completed two weeks complete rest, the only thing I did with him where his carrot stretches.
He then completed a few weeks doing just ground work, basing it on working every other day so he could rest inbetween.

During the week id pessoa him, long rein him and lunge with the long reins. He worked well (bucked and pratted about on the end of the lunge line when being pessoaed as usual (little terd) but buckled down eventually and worked really well.

During the weekends, when I have more light I would take him for a walk around a really quiet bridle path. As I said in my previous post, he had taken to spinning infront of cars and then bolting with me. This was only happening in company for some reason. So I chose a quiet hack with limited road work.

And yesterday, I got out of bed and braved our first hack alone in over a months time. I was going to go for the 'getting on and off, praising and confidence building technique' but quite honestly, he was pretty faultless.

We had one small blip with our first water encounter. In the end I hopped off and led him into it and remounted with him stood in it (ha I win!) He didn't do anything nasty, just wouldnt move.
But suprisingly he walked through the ford straight away (more of a leap) I then turned him around and made him walk through it a few more times until he made less of a fuss. I was very pleased with him!

He then walked through a very scary farm with strange sheep with long necks making funny noises at him (alpacas). He was literally Pooing his pants. But managed!

So overall I'm really pleased with the progress we have made over the past few days. He's still being worked everyother day with regular holidays to keep him happy and interested :)

 

Water training. His least favorite thing.  

 

Desperate for a hair cut also. look at that beard! 

 

Fuzzy ears :)